Thursday, October 11, 2007

30 Pieces of PCE Silver

Is Parents for Choice in Education buying votes?

The following letter was sent out by The Free Capitalist Project:

Help the School Voucher Campaign!

Parents for Choice in Education is conducting a “Friends and Family” campaign during these last few weeks before the Nov. 6 special election. We need you to help us to get as many people as possible out to vote for Referendum 1!

We are looking for the following information/qualifications of each person who signs up:

Must provide Name, Address, Phone Number(s), and e-mail address

Must be a registered voter (deadline for mail-in registration is Oct. 9)

If you are motivated and have a desire to help this campaign succeed, as well as earn a little money in the process, you can sign up with Parents for Choice in Education to become an “advocate”. As an advocate, you agree to seek out your friends and family and solicit their commitment for this important cause. In addition, if you provide your field manager with a minimum of 25 names of persons who have committed to voting for Referendum 1, and those persons actually vote, you can earn $10 per person. That’s $250 [30 pieces of silver] for the 25 names, plus an additional $10 for every name after that. (Side note: All yard signs will be provided by Parents for Choice in Education through their Field Managers.)

13 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Your blog is propaganda. Tell the whole truth, not just the half that benefits you.

This letter was sent as a follow up:

RETRACTION

We apologize for the previous email that was sent out this afternoon regarding the voucher election and recruiting advocates. It was simply incorrect and misrepresents the Free Capitalist Projects' grass roots efforts. Neither Parents for Choice in Education nor the Free Capitalist Project will ever provide incentives that appear to pay people to vote. The earlier email was sent by determined and sincere individuals who are working diligently, but the Free Capitalist Project and Parents for Choice in Education did not approve, authorize or see the email in advance. We are sorry for the miscommunication. We treasure our form of government and encourage all of you to inform and educate your friends, family and neighbors about school choice and what it means to improve our public schools and Utah's education system.

How is it propaganda? I put up the post and then received the retraction.

The retraction, by the way, was bogus.

This must have been “world’s shortest vote-buying campaign ever” and it is just another example in a long line of dirty tricks. Both PCE and Free Capitalist obviously had to know about the e-mail. No one at Free Capitalist would put PCE’s name to an e-mail without discussing it with them first. If this were not the case, we would expect to hear from PCE denying any involvement in the e-mail.

The retraction doesn't discuss holding the perpetrators responsible. Quite the opposite…they actually seem to be praising the “determined and sincere” vote-peddlers who are “working diligently.” At least they admit it wasn't a prank – just people passionate to inject “market incentives” into our democracy. It works for fast food, and the Utah Legislature – why shouldn't it work for votes, too?

“We are sorry for the miscommunication?” How about – “We were shocked to see an e-mail from our servers that encourage people to buy votes. We found the individuals responsible and they no longer work for Free Capitalist Radio. We're so sorry for this terrible mistake…” But no, the people still have their jobs, they are “determined and sincere,” and “diligent” workers. And in spite of this self-righteous hubris they couldn't help but include, in the *retraction* mind you, yet another unrestrained “vote for vouchers” pitch.

(1) It is unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by himself or through any other person to:(a) pay, loan, or contribute, or offer or promise to pay, loan, or contribute any money or other valuable consideration to or for any voter or to or for any other person:(i) to induce the voter to vote or refrain from voting at any election provided by law;